The Carlisle Import Nationals are almost upon us, and if you haven’t ditched family plans in favor of sneaking off to southeastern Pennsylvania on the weekend of May 16th, now is the time to make up a story. No, let’s not use anything obviously made-up this time, like surgery for that sports injury from back in college that’s been bothering you, cause college was twenty years ago and you already used that excuse to get out of Uncle Irving’s fourth (or was that fifth?) wedding. And c’mon, that wasn’t a sports injury – you slipped on some barf walking out of the dorm at 3am and broke one of your toes. And no, the ol’ wisdom teeth removal excuse won’t work, cause then you’ll have to fake a swollen face for the next two weeks. Let’s just go with “I gotta go to that one important industry conference”.

And let’s face it, the Carlisle Import Nationals are an industry conference. This industry conference will, after all, consist of presentations, tutorials, seminars, speeches, as well as occasional Picard facepalms of varying duration as a result of what that guy did to his car. Impromptu Polka dancing contests have also been known to break out, but those are rare. This, ahem, industry conference and seminar will take place in Carlisle, Pennsylvania from May 17th through May 19th, but as I’ve mentioned before Sunday is not the best day to attend as that is the day that everyone drives back home. Let’s take a look at some highlights from last year’s edition of this totally important industry conference that you just can’t miss.

The Peugeot 406 was popular hit overseas, but its sharp handling and elegant design had turned off many American buyers, and only one example was sold at deep discount in the US after gathering dust in Peugeot’s Manhattan dealership for two years straight. The rest of them, thousands in all, were shipped back to Europe. Yes, I made that all up. No, you still can’t have one, though our Canadian readers can start bringing these over in just three short years. Start saving now.

This was a nice and well kept early GS in a rare color. Citroens at Carlisle always enjoy a solid turnout, though last year’s turnout was not as great as expected. Still, you’re bound to see upwards to 20 Citroens any given year, including rare models like the GS (which was never officially imported) and the XM. Add to that a generous helping of SMs, CXs, and 2CVs, and Carlisle hosts the second largest French car gathering on the east coast after the annual Citroen Rendezvous event in upstate NY, which is coming up as well.

One of several Opels at Carlisle, this was a nice and tidy Kadett wagon. Every few years the Opel club holds its nationals event at Carlisle, and even when it doesn’t, the Opel turnout still easily surpasses 40 cars. Last year was no exception, and showgoers were treated to a nice display of many Opel models, as well as an obligatory late-model Saturn rebadged as an Opel.

The Renault club has been gaining steam recently, and for 2012 they not only had a solid turnout of more than fifteen cars, but they also had an indoor pavilion with AMC-Renault exhibits all to themselves. Last year I felt the Renault club had the best presentation and organization after the Saab contingent, which completely dominated everything for at least the fifth year in a row. The Renault turnout was not as large, but the club’s presentation of their cars’ heritage was outstanding. I only hope their footprint at Carlisle continues to grow at the same pace.

For some reason Italian cars are not as numerous at this event as one would expect, but I write it off as Alfa Romeo and other Italian marques preferring their own single-marque shows. So for the past few years that I have been attending the event, the number of Alfa Romeos and Fiats has stayed quite level at only a couple dozen cars. There are surprises here and there, like a cross-country traveling Fiat Panda 4×4 on UK plates, a Lancia Beta, or a late-model Fiat Barchetta that had clearly overstayed its welcome, but for the most part the numbers of Italian cars have stayed pretty modest.

One of the cars you probably thought you’d never see at a stateside car show (aside from Chinese limousines of the 1980s) would be DKWs. For the past few years the admittedly small DKW community has had a small turnout but great organization and presentation at their tent. The number of cars has stayed in the single digits, but that has more to do with the vast geographical spread of the club’s members, some of which actually come down from Canada. If you own a DKW and don’t own a trailer for it, you’re probably not going to risk a journey over 200 miles on our nations interstates. Or any nation’s interstates.

British cars are another segment of Carlisle’s attending automobiles that are somewhat underrepresented, but what they lack in number they tend to make in sheer rarity of exhibited cars. Take, for instance, this 1986 MG Metro Turbo, or the Ontario-plated Aston Martin Lagonda that appeared at Carlisle the previous year. There are always a couple dozen Triumphs and MGBs, but no classic Land Rovers at all or anything from Daimler, Rover, Bentley or any other mass-market or bespoke English rides. Which is a shame, but I understand completely that classic British car owners prefer to go to single-marque events or even to single-model events.

Carlisle attracts furrin’ car enthusiasts from all over the country (as well as our neighbor north of The Wall), so it’s not unusual to see cars hat have traveled over a thousand miles to get here. And one of the furthest traveled cars from last year was this BMW 5er Alpina B10. Vancouver, in the northern reaches of Westeros, has become the unlikely home of Alpina-tuned BMWs being brought over from Japan, where they apparently were a thing not too long ago.

I don’t know what this is, so let’s skip this one.

One club that completely dominates Carlisle is Saab (alternatively spelled with angry capslock). Last year the SAAB! contingent featured a tent more than a thousand hundred feet long with lots of exhibits (and more importantly, barbecue) inside, dwarfing not only all other car clubs, but the entire western half of the field. With more than 230 cars present, SAABs made up close a fifth of all automobiles at Carlisle 2012. No small feat, for a marque that is no longer in production. The smell of the food alone made me wish I had driven a SAAB to Carlisle, and one of these years I might have to resort to borrowing a 900 friend’s Subaru and taping some SAAB badges on it. Close enough, right?

After the Swedish car contingent (and by that I just mean Saabs and SAABs), German cars enjoy a solid presence (and by that I mean Audis). All other German marques, BMWs included, manage only a token presence with a dozen cars each at the most. Once again, I write off this token appearance as a result of clubs and club members going to their own single-marque gatherings. However, Audis at Carlisle appear to be thriving, and last year they achieved a turnout of approximately a hundred cars, which included this nicely restored 4000 Coupe.

Massive Carlisle Import Nationals 2012 gallery below: